Human Brain Project (HBP) Home Page

The Human Brain Project
is a pan-European initiative that began
in October 2013 and is projected to last for ten years although
we are currently only in Phase I, which will last until April
of 2016. The project is funded by the EU's ICT program
(which support technology research) with a projected cost of
one billion euros. Its aim is to help to bring together a wide
range of research communities from hardware engineers to
neuroscientists, programmers to philosophers so that collectively
we can make significant progress in unravelling the most
complicated machine known to Man: the human brain itself!

This massive project is divided into a number of different
themes called pillars. Our group in Manchester is part of
the neuromorphic pillar whose interest is in developing and
supporting novel computer hardware which can accelerate the
simulation of large neural networks. In this first phase,
our aims are to:

Develop and improve the software running on the largest
SpiNNaker machines (consisting of between 100,000 and a
million simple microprocessors connected in a hexagonal grid)
to allow networks of many millions of neurons to be simulated
in real time.

Make SpiNNaker hardware available to researchers all
over the world via a simple web interface so that they can
run their simulations remotely

Use this platform here in Manchester to contribute
to the research into brain function

Work with partners to design a test chip for a next
generation SpiNNaker machine, learning from our experience
with the current SpiNNaker machine and feedback from our
user base. The design will be completed and the machine
built in the next phase of the project

Background

SpiNNaker is a novel computer architecture inspired by the working
of the human brain whose development has been funded by the UK's
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC.

A SpiNNaker machine is a massively parallel computing platform,
targeted towards three main areas of research:

Neuroscience: Understanding how the brain works is a Grand Challenge of 21st
century science. We will provide the platform
to help neuroscientists to unravel the mystery that is the mind. The largest SpiNNaker
machine will be capable of simulating a billion simple neurons, or millions of neurons
with complex structure and internal dynamics.

Robotics: SpiNNaker is a good target for researchers in robotics, who need mobile,
low power computation. A small SpiNNaker board makes it possible to simulate a network
of tens of thousands of spiking neurons, process sensory input and generate motor
output, all in real time and in a low power system.

Computer Science: SpiNNaker breaks the rules followed by traditional
supercomputers that rely on deterministic, repeatable communications and
reliable computation. SpiNNaker nodes communicate using simple messages
(spikes) that are inherently unreliable. This break with determinism offers new
challenges, but also the potential to discover powerful new principles of
massively parallel computation.

The design and construction of the SpiNNaker machine was funded by EPSRC
and The University of Manchester.
The ongoing support and software development, with provision of internet
access to the machine, is being supported by the EU through the ICT
Flagship Human Brain Project.
Research using the machine is being supported from the European Research
Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme
(FP/2007-2013) ERC Grant Agreement no. 320689 BIMPC -
"Biologically-Inspired Massively-Parallel Computation".
The research has also received support from ARM Ltd, and from Samsung
through their GRO programme.
We are grateful to all these funding bodies and companies for their support.